F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 112 Baku Outlook: A Prelude to a Rise

Shu Long dozed off in the conference room for about half an hour, and almost all the people who were supposed to be there had arrived.

To be fair, these Italian engineers are really slow and leisurely, enjoying the slow pace of life too much, and never rushing to do anything.

The drivers should be the biggest names in the team, but instead, two of them are standing here with dark circles under their eyes, all serious and focused, while the rest of the team is just wandering around aimlessly.
The advantage is that the atmosphere within the Toro Rosso team is completely out of step with the high-pressure environment of the entire Red Bull system, making it a suitable training ground for new drivers. Moreover, the harmonious relationships themselves will improve communication and work efficiency to some extent.

The downside is that the team as a whole lacks initiative, and their reactions are often slow, which can be incredibly frustrating when it comes to actually getting things done.

Team leader Uncle Tost talked for a long time, first giving the drivers and crew a routine pep talk, and then outlining the team's goals for this race week.

The primary task is definitely to try and score points for both cars, no question about it.

However, given the current steady and positive trend of Toro Rosso, Tost remains confident in the two drivers and engineers.

Another point shared at the meeting was some intelligence gathered recently in the paddock about other teams, as well as the testing tasks that teams need to complete throughout the race week and their general strategic inclinations.

This was mainly for the two drivers, because much of it was compiled and organized by the team's engineers. The drivers wouldn't understand if the technical details were explained in too much detail. The main purpose was to let Shulong and Albon know who their main competitors were for this race.

Since most teams in the paddock will focus their upgrades on the next race, and the Baku circuit is similar to the Shanghai International Circuit in some aspects, the overall competitiveness of the cars shown at the Shanghai International Circuit is actually quite indicative.

McLaren's poor performance in the last race was due to an unfortunate accident, but their strong momentum since the start of the season cannot be ignored. As long as Renault's engine doesn't malfunction, they still pose a considerable threat to Toro Rosso.

Or rather, it poses a significant threat to Alben.

Similarly, Renault has demonstrated a very high qualifying lap ceiling and excellent long-distance stability in the previous race.

Aside from Hulkenberg, who also unfortunately had to retire due to an accident, Ricciardo, who made a mistake in qualifying and failed to enter Q3, managed to squeeze his way into the points zone and finish in P8.

Of course, this is all predicated on the Renault engine, which is like a ticking time bomb, not malfunctioning during the race.

Finally, there's Racing Point, who also made it into the points zone at the very end of the race; they look like they'll likely be a dark horse as well.

Unlike Williams, who live a very frugal life, Racing Point, which also uses Mercedes engines, has no shortage of funds thanks to the strong financial backing of its parent company. In fact, the results of each race show that the competitiveness of their cars has been steadily improving.

The number one driver, Perez, is also a very outstanding driver and should not be underestimated.

As for the Ferrari teams, let's leave them aside for now. It seems their overall competitiveness is still tied to Ferrari's engines.

If Binotto has resolved the issue of engine instability, then Haas and Arro will also become more competitive, and Shulong will naturally have a greater chance of continuing his momentum from the previous race and competing for a podium finish.

It wasn't that Toro Rosso got cocky after finishing fourth in the team race; rather, the track in Azerbaijan genuinely had those conditions.

The Baku circuit in Azerbaijan is a high-speed street, 6.003 kilometers long, with two DRS zones of similar length and a straight more than one kilometer long, giving the cars a top speed of over 360 km/h.

Unlike many other street circuits, the Baku circuit has a very wide main straight, which means there will be plenty of overtaking opportunities under the new regulations this year regarding large front wings and large rear wings.

At the same time, it also has the inherent disadvantages, or rather, characteristics, of street racing.

First, of course, it's bumpy; second, it has many narrow, low-speed bends and right-angle turns.

Otherwise, why would people say that the Baku circuit, with its completely different layout, has similarities to the Shanghai International Circuit?
Such a track layout places high demands on the overall balance of the race car. It not only needs to achieve the lowest possible drag on the straights, but also requires the car to have excellent mechanical grip and traction in low-speed corners.

This can be considered Red Bull's current advantageous track. As long as Red Bull doesn't come up with any substantial solutions, there's no guarantee that Shulong might actually be able to take down Verstappen on the track this round.

Furthermore, all four Red Bull race cars will be equipped with a brand-new internal combustion engine this weekend.

This is an engine upgrade by Honda. The new power unit will improve durability and reliability, and also slightly improve performance.

Albon had already experienced the new engine before the race due to the three serious crashes in the previous race, and in his words, the new engine felt "very different!"

If all of this is true, then Shulong can truly be said to be bursting with confidence right now!

The final topic of the meeting was the overall strategic direction for this station.

The tire compounds used in this race were also the same three tires numbered C2 to C4, from hardest to softest. Learning from the experience and lessons of the previous race, the team once again eliminated the poor C2 compound white tires from their strategy.

The reason is simple: the weather in Baku right now is very similar to that in Shanghai two weeks ago, with the overall temperature still below 20°C, mostly hovering between 15°C and 17°C.

The weather was relatively clear, but Baku is known as a windy city. During the competition, the overall wind force remained at around level 5, with the possibility of gusts exceeding level 6.

In addition, the surface temperature of the track is generally lower because of the large number of trees and buildings that provide shade during street races.

All the data has shown that the track conditions at this station are not suitable for white tires!

However, due to the street circuit, the surface temperature of the Baku circuit is more likely to accumulate during the race compared to the Shanghai International Circuit, even with similar wind speeds.

In other words, in the later stages of the race, drivers will have more freedom to protect their yellow tires and may even consider stopping on both red and yellow tires to finish the race. Even if a second stop is necessary in the later stages, switching to red tires will generally be the only way to gain an advantage.

Therefore, in the pre-race tire compound selection, in addition to the fixed allocation of one set each of red, yellow, and white tires, the team directly gave Shulong a rather extreme set of one yellow tire and nine sets of red tires, without taking any extra white tires.
In other words, Shu Long had a full ten sets of red tires to squander throughout the entire race week!
There is only one prerequisite for Shu Long to compete for a podium finish: he must first secure a sufficiently advantageous starting position during qualifying. Squeezing into Q3 like he did at the Shanghai International Circuit is absolutely unacceptable!

However, Baku and Shanghai International Circuit have one major difference: the narrow corners of street circuits demand extremely high levels of skill, car feel, and judgment from the driver, and the car's performance is not the decisive factor.

Australia is a semi-street circuit, so the situation cannot be compared to Baku. Toro Rosso is not really clear about the capabilities of the Shulong street circuit.

Some might say, "Oh, didn't they race here in F2? They were at a championship level then, so what's there to worry about?" Or, "Even if we don't mention F2, they must have raced here on simulators, right? Don't the teams have any idea how reliable those data are?"

To this, I can only say that they are different, really different!

F2 is not only much slower, but its cars are also much smaller than those in F1. Even in Monaco, which is considered the most challenging race in the F1 calendar but the most boring by spectators, F2 drivers can still have a great time.

As for simulators.
If simulators were truly that valuable, then the current work of training F1 drivers and developing racing cars wouldn't be so arduous.

Playing a game is ultimately different from driving a real car. Drivers sitting in a simulator are not afraid of crashing and can confidently push the data on the screen to its limit.

However, when you're actually in a race car, the rapidly passing street landmarks give drivers a sense of speed and tension far exceeding that of a regular paved track, and most drivers' judgment of the car's limits will also be distorted.

Fear is a gene passed down from our ancestors to ensure the continuation of our race. The fear of collision is a natural human emotion that every driver can understand.

Those who can overcome their instincts and still maintain a clear and accurate judgment will naturally be regarded as super drivers among drivers!

Therefore, in addition to rain races, many teams also rely heavily on their performance in street races to assess the upper limit of their drivers' abilities.

The team dared not have unfounded and blind confidence in the Shulong tires, so these ten sets of red tires were an investment they made to serve as trial and error costs for the Shulong tires.

The meeting dragged on until after six o'clock. After it was over, Shu Long was too tired to continue. He grabbed something to eat at the hotel and went straight back to his room to sleep.

He almost fell asleep in the conference room after switching time zones three times in a short period of time.
The next day, Thursday, was Media Day. What woke Shu Long from his sweet dreams early in the morning wasn't a motorcade, but a large, sparsely packed group of people standing in front of his bed.

"Who the hell?! What's going on?!"

"You do not know?"

"What do you know? By the way, how did you get in?"

Blinking his eyes to wipe away the tears brought on by the bright light from outside the window, Shu Long was finally able to make out who was gathered around the bed, as if it were a farewell ceremony.

Not only were there the familiar young drivers, but also the older Ricciardo and Uncle Tilty Head somehow mixed in. At this moment, most of them turned to look at Zhou Guanyu, who looked completely innocent.

"Isn't today the dragon's birthday?"

Zhou Guanyu was sweating profusely under the scrutiny of everyone. He quickly took out his phone to check the date and the memo.

"That's right, I've been preparing for this for several days, there's no way I could have misremembered, right?"

It seems that this is the culprit behind this scene. Not only did Xiao Zhou bring a large group of F1 drivers, but he also invited many of his acquaintances from F2 to join in the fun.

Among the faces were Zhou Guanyu's teammates in the UNI team and Huber, who was also in the Renault youth training program, as well as several unfamiliar faces that Shu Long had never seen before, but notably not Mick, who had been his teammate for a while.

Um.
Before the person in question, still half asleep, could even respond, Verstappen came to Zhou Guanyu's rescue. Among everyone present, he was one of the few who remembered to send birthday wishes to Shu Long every year on time.

This is actually quite difficult, because since he turned fourteen, Shu Long has never properly celebrated his birthday, let alone thrown a big party to celebrate.

There wasn't any particular reason; besides being busy, he was genuinely uncomfortable with being the center of attention.

There are so many memorable days in a year. Birthdays, apart from the day of birth and the day of coming of age, are not really that special unless you deliberately mention them, and they don't have a direct connection with how good the relationship is between people.

However, people as meticulous as Max are indeed rare, even in the entire paddock.

It all started when Zhou Guanyu and his friends were going to call up their old friend Leclerc from Ferrari's youth training program. They happened to run into Max, who was going out for breakfast. Ricciardo, who is loud and loves excitement, saw them and ended up inviting this whole bunch of people over for no apparent reason.

So, the first thing Shu Long did this morning was to have everyone share the cake that Zhou Guanyu brought, eating it face to face. After everyone had returned to their rooms with cream all over their heads and were laughing and joking, Shu Long finally wiped off his snow-white beard and struggled to get out of bed.

Looks like I'll have to call someone to clean up today. Hopefully, that unlucky waiter won't be too annoyed.
My phone is already filled with birthday wishes from China. In addition to the annual blessings from my parents in the family group chat, there are also blessings from Teng Weifeng and his friends, as well as Wang Jieke, Tim, and other up-loaders I met during filming.

Just as he was replying to each message one by one, his manager, Alonso, also sent him a timely message.

I'm a little happy, but also a little tired.

The hardest thing to do to fail is to give back the kindness of others, but he feels a little awkward about responding to such kindness in a proper way.

Being too polite can seem pretentious, while not being polite can be impolite. Mastering the art of maintaining social distance is a complex and challenging subject that requires a lifetime of study.

Gan Mengning knew that Shu Long desperately needed to adjust to the time difference, so she just sent a good morning greeting and didn't bother him any further. She also reminded Shu Long to check the small compartment in his suitcase where he puts socks when he had time.

A birthday present?
However, I didn't have time to take a closer look. This whole farce delayed me this morning. To be precise, Shulong is already late for work. He hurriedly put on a calfskin coat and rushed to Weichang.

Who knew that what happened this morning was just the beginning, with the real drama yet to come?

As soon as he arrived at the convoy, he was greeted by a welcoming party lined with all the crew members, and another cake was waiting for him there.

Fortunately, there were media interviews that followed, which saved his recently styled hair from being ruined.

However, this commotion brought the news to the media, and at the subsequent press conference, the host, along with Gasley and Norris, those two bastards who loved to stir up trouble, gave him another good beating.

How thoughtful! Don't you find social interaction a real challenge?

How do I put it when my first birthday gift from Weichang is this kind of heavyweight tutoring?
(End of this chapter)